Curtis Flowers podcast: Did jailhouse informants tell the truth?

Curtis Flowers has remained in prison largely because of testimony from jailhouse informants, who claimed he confessed to murdering four people at the Tardy Furniture store in Winona in 1996.

Frederick Veal testified in Curtis Flowers' first trial, in 1997, that Flowers had confessed to him in the Leflore County Jail. Veal recanted and didn’t testify at any of Flowers' subsequent trials. Veal said his statement had been coerced and that he'd been threatened when he hesitated to take the stand, according to court records. More than 15 years later, Veal signed an affidavits reaffirming his recantation.(Photo: Samara Freemark/APM Reports)

For the second season of “In the Dark,” an investigative podcast from APM Reports, a team of journalists spent a year in Mississippi digging into the Flowers case and found that it’s supported by questionable evidence. The conviction is based on three main planks: the route that witnesses say Flowers walked the morning of the crime, the gun that prosecutors say he used, and the people he supposedly confessed to while in jail.

Jailhouse informants can often be unreliable, especially if they receive leniency or cash rewards in exchange for their testimony. The three informants who testified against Flowers have all changed their stories at one time or another. In the fourth episode of the 10-episode season, APM Reports digs into who's really telling the truth.

Every Wednesday through the end of June, the Clarion Ledger will offer short summaries of every podcast episode. You can find the episodes on Apple Podcasts or at Inthedarkpodcast.org.